Columbus, Mississippi in The Mansion (Location)

In a passage about the possibility of an airfield being built in Yoknapatawpha, Faulkner locates his county in between "the flatter prairie land to the east near Columbus" and "the perfectly flat Delta land to the west near Greenville" (358). Columbus lies about one hundred miles southeast of 'Jefferson," i.e. Oxford.

Columbus, Mississippi

In The Mansion Faulkner locates Yoknapatawpha in between "the flatter prairie land to the east near Columbus" and "the perfectly flat Delta land to the west near Greenville" (358). Columbus lies about one hundred miles southeast of 'Jefferson," i.e. Oxford. If you imagined Yoknapatawpha somewhere on a straight line drawn between Columbus and Greenville, it would be close to a hundred miles south of where it is assumed to be; perhaps in using these reference points, Faulkner is deliberately making it harder to locate his imaginary county on a real map of the state.

Greenville, Mississippi in The Mansion (Location)

In a passage about a possible government airfield in Yoknapatawpha, Faulkner locates the county in between "the flatter prairie land to the east near Columbus" and "the perfectly flat Delta land to the west near Greenville" (358). Greenville lies next to the Mississippi River, about 130 miles southwest of 'Jefferson,' that is, Oxford, Mississippi. By using Greenville as the westward marker rather than, say, Clarksdale, which is 70 miles north of Greenville and still south of Oxford, Faulkner makes it harder to pinpoint the location of his imaginary county.

Greenville, Mississippi

In The Mansion Faulkner locates Yoknapatawpha in between "the flatter prairie land to the east near Columbus" and "the perfectly flat Delta land to the west near Greenville" (358). Greenville lies next to the Mississippi River, about 130 miles southwest of 'Jefferson,' that is, Oxford, Mississippi. By using Greenville as the westward marker rather than, say, Clarksdale, which is 70 miles north of Greenville and still south of Oxford, Faulkner makes it harder to pinpoint the location of his imaginary county.

Herbert Hoover

The real Herbert Hoover was the 31st President of the U.S. (1929-1933). The "Herbert Hoover" who appears in The Mansion, however, is the creation of Gavin Stevens, who is trying to direct the Federal Bureau of Investigation. away from Linda Snopes Kohl by writing an anonymous letter to "Herbert Hoover/F B & I Depment" accusing Flem Snopes of having a "commonist party Card" (269). The real head of the F.B.I. at the time, of course, was J.

Herbert Hoover

The real Herbert Hoover was the 31st President of the U.S. (1929-1933). The "Herbert Hoover" who appears in The Mansion, however, is the creation of Gavin Stevens, who is trying to direct the Federal Bureau of Investigation. away from Linda Snopes Kohl by writing an anonymous letter to "Herbert Hoover/F B & I Depment" accusing Flem Snopes of having a "commonist party Card" (269). The real head of the F.B.I. at the time, of course, was J.

Unnamed Men Who Caused the World Wars

In Chapter 6 of The Mansion, Gavin Stevens refers to "the same old cynical manipulators" who had caused World War One and were now, in the late 1930s, about to start the Second World War: "the parasites - the hereditary proprietors, the farmers-general of the human dilemma" (178). The specific names he mentions in the passage include Benito Mussolini, "this one man" in Germany (Adolph Hitler), Huey Long in Louisiana and "our own Bilbo in Mississippi" as well as two racist and anti-Semitic organizations: the "K.K.K. and Silver Shirts" (179). V.K.

Unnamed Men Who Caused the World Wars

In Chapter 6 of The Mansion, Gavin Stevens refers to "the same old cynical manipulators" who had caused World War One and were now, in the late 1930s, about to start the Second World War: "the parasites - the hereditary proprietors, the farmers-general of the human dilemma" (178). The specific names he mentions in the passage include Benito Mussolini, "this one man" in Germany (Adolph Hitler), Huey Long in Louisiana and "our own Bilbo in Mississippi" as well as two racist and anti-Semitic organizations: the "K.K.K. and Silver Shirts" (179). V.K.

Italy in The Mansion (Location)

Most of the novel's references to Italy concern the fighting in Ethiopia that, along with the Spanish Civil War, was a precursor to World War II, and the Fascist who led the country at the time, Benito Mussolini. According to Ratliff's disparaging view of the darkening situation in Europe, Mussolini is not as dangerous as Hitler, "because all Mussolini has to work with are Italians while this other man has Germans" (179).

Unnamed Modern Aryans

In a confused passage that evokes a number of stereotypes, mostly involving national types (like "German," 146), Gavin Stevens asserts the idea of "the modern virile northern Aryan" to explain why he decided to participate in the First World War by serving on the allied side (146). According to Gavin's idea, it was "the old Aryan stock" as embodied in the English that "established America" (146).

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